Who will replace Oppo?

[4-earredwonder]

It's just a market trend...vinyl is rising and CDs are falling...bigger profit margin for vinyl..

Yeah, maybe, but I wonder what the 'actual' rate of return for defective, poorly pressed vinyl is?

 

[Clint Eastwood]

Yeah, maybe, but I wonder what the 'actual' rate of return for defective, poorly pressed vinyl is?

I don't know but they can press them in the US and they don't have other logistical problems with distribution like other physical discs...for companies like AP it's like printing money....a high return despite the faulty discs...

 

[4-earredwonder]

I don't know but they can press them in the US and they don't have other logistical problems with distribution like other physical discs...for companies like AP it's like printing money....a high return despite the faulty discs...

I remember a few years ago it cost 50 cents to press a 'domestic' RBCD w/case/booklet. Doubtful, vinyl can be pressed for that pittance. Also doubtful AP and/or MoFi has many returns on their custom pressed audiophile vinyl. One thing I do know, since most music is purchased via online retailers, I'm sure it's more expensive to ship vinyl than CDs and if you have to return vinyl records for replacement, double the postage/handling....and for 'convenience' purposes, a vinyl record won't fit in your local post box necessitating a trip to the Post Office where long lines are drudgery...at least in my neck of the woods!

http://memecrunch.com/meme/BIYM7/going-postal/image.gif?w=400&c=1

 

[Clint Eastwood]

I remember a few years ago it cost 50 cents to press a RBCD w/case/booklet. Doubtful, vinyl can be pressed for that pittance. Also doubtful AP has many returns on their custom pressed audiophile vinyl. One thing I do know, since most music is purchased via online retailers, I'm sure it's more expensive to ship vinyl than CDs and if you have to return vinyl records for replacement, double the postage/handling.

The trouble is CDs aren't selling for very much these days...like the deals you find for us..they are practically giving them away....so it's a moot point what it costs in production...vinyl...like the one's AP markets aren't cheap...

 

[4-earredwonder]

The trouble is CDs aren't selling for very much these days...like the deals you find for us..they are practically giving them away....so it's a moot point what it costs in production...vinyl...like the one's AP markets aren't cheap...

Current RBCDs still sell for $12.99. The deals we get are those compilations and a lot of classical labels are blowing out huge 50~100 RBCD sets for ridiculous prices [like a buck apiece].

Yeah, Clinty, the writing is on the wall but it ain't over just yet.

IMO, the best deals are on Blu Ray video discs which are cheaper than their current DVD counterparts which are ironically still being pressed in droves. Figure that. People haven't even transitioned to Blu Ray and they're trying to push UHD4K [?]!

And if you want a REAL chuckle: I just ordered 26 Classical multichannel SACDs from UK's Presto Classical and some were priced as low as $7.50 but contained up to 20 tracks.....and if you wanted to order the corresponding MP3 or FLAC downloads, it was [get this] $1.30 PER TRACK! Do the math on that one.

 

[bluelightning]

I get why the labels would do that, but I don't understand why anyone else would voluntarily comply.

Why do I use a Universal player/media player such as the Oppo 203 ?
I can tell you this, it is not because of any voluntary compliance, rather it is just another tool in the toolbox. Like you, I have had my music collection on hard disks/computers for a long time (started doing this back in 2000 during the Napster days), except for SACDs, ripping of which is relatively new to me. First, as is for my needs there is no such thing as a universal player that does everything I need it to do. No media player PC based or otherwise is able to play everything. For example one cannot play SACDs or DVD-As or 4K BD ( unless newer PC) on a PC based player. Then talk about BD & DVD rips with directory structures, that is another area where PC based machines have issues ( Kodi can do some but not most). In my process, the first time I play the media it is almost always on a physical media player such as the Oppo. Most movies, especially ones rented from Netflix etc. do not make it to the file server. Similarly a lot a other disks do not get ripped unless there is sufficient interest in them. This is where the physical media "universal" player helps me.

Sure I could rip everything first ( actually I cannot when it comes to a lot of BD movies, but assume I can) before playing, but that would be taking away a lot of flexibility (sometimes I just want to play the damn thing instead of waiting to rip) and add a lot of work for things I may not necessarily care to keep long term.

 

[mandrix]

Good thing I used "usually" in that post...or I would have been toast..hehe….I don't know if they are "hole in the wall" types...but here are some

Good idea-I used Yelp and came up with Aarons Arrow Records in G-ville. If like they used to be pretty much used but good selection in the past.
At a former job in R&D for Energizer I had an intern from UF half of the day, and we would talk extensively about music.
He would listen to album suggestions, leave for the weekend and come back telling me he went and bought, e.g. Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus from the local used record shop. I enjoyed those discussions and being able to show him a lot of music he had overlooked.

 

[mandrix]

Why do I use a Universal player/media player such as the Oppo 203 ?
I can tell you this, it is not because of any voluntary compliance, rather it is just another tool in the toolbox. Like you, I have had my music collection on hard disks/computers for a long time (started doing this back in 2000 during the Napster days), except for SACDs, ripping of which is relatively new to me. First, as is for my needs there is no such thing as a universal player that does everything I need it to do. No media player PC based or otherwise is able to play everything. For example one cannot play SACDs or DVD-As or 4K BD ( unless newer PC) on a PC based player. Then talk about BD & DVD rips with directory structures, that is another area where PC based machines have issues ( Kodi can do some but not most). In my process, the first time I play the media it is almost always on a physical media player such as the Oppo. Most movies, especially ones rented from Netflix etc. do not make it to the file server. Similarly a lot a other disks do not get ripped unless there is sufficient interest in them. This is where the physical media "universal" player helps me.

Sure I could rip everything first ( actually I cannot when it comes to a lot of BD movies, but assume I can) before playing, but that would be taking away a lot of flexibility (sometimes I just want to play the damn thing instead of waiting to rip) and add a lot of work for things I may not necessarily care to keep long term.

I'm with you on all that ripping, at least down to the file/song level is just too much wasted time. I tend to leave everything in ISO form. PowerDVD will handle all the BD/DVD/4K stuff & Foobar will play the SACD & DVD-A, although nothing I've found will display DVD-A graphics except a hardware player.
My HTPC is just a mini-Z68 with an i3 and old low-powered Video card in a mid tower chassis, but it will bitstream via HDMI to the Onkyo to decode.

 

[timalin]

Why do I use a Universal player/media player such as the Oppo 203 ?
I can tell you this, it is not because of any voluntary compliance, rather it is just another tool in the toolbox. Like you, I have had my music collection on hard disks/computers for a long time (started doing this back in 2000 during the Napster days), except for SACDs, ripping of which is relatively new to me. First, as is for my needs there is no such thing as a universal player that does everything I need it to do. No media player PC based or otherwise is able to play everything. For example one cannot play SACDs or DVD-As or 4K BD ( unless newer PC) on a PC based player. Then talk about BD & DVD rips with directory structures, that is another area where PC based machines have issues ( Kodi can do some but not most). In my process, the first time I play the media it is almost always on a physical media player such as the Oppo. Most movies, especially ones rented from Netflix etc. do not make it to the file server. Similarly a lot a other disks do not get ripped unless there is sufficient interest in them. This is where the physical media "universal" player helps me.

Sure I could rip everything first ( actually I cannot when it comes to a lot of BD movies, but assume I can) before playing, but that would be taking away a lot of flexibility (sometimes I just want to play the damn thing instead of waiting to rip) and add a lot of work for things I may not necessarily care to keep long term.

I guess by voluntary, I would exclude SACDs as they require arcane equipment to rip and the unaltered files are not well supported. As far as other media are concerned, 90% of the time ripping is trivial, and if immediacy is absolutely key, a download would arrive quicker. But I made an active decision long ago not to own physical media, so I suppose decisions I've made since then, like throwing out my wife's DVD player or hoarding media I know I'm never going to watch or listen to again, have been based on that position.

 

[weekendtoy]

Best record store in Minneapolis--for 50 years now. Glad to hear they're still thriving.

https://www.electricfetus.com/

The Electric Fetus also has a store in Duluth MN, near where I live. In a city and surrounding communites of about 150,000 people, it is the last CD/Record store remaining.

I'm there at least once a week browsing the used selections and try to buy new releases there as well to support local.

 

[atrocity]

That is a SHEEET-LOAD of recordings... Wow. I mean yes, I have more music files than would fit on 700 disks, so maybe 800/900 albums of music total, but 9000 albums... how much is it inflated by?

I can't really give you a meaningful number, but I can explain what's going on: Sometimes, for whatever reason, I'll only have a track or two from a particular album. So I'll have an entry in the "album" field, but it's really not an album's worth of material. More commonly, because I've digitized a lot of 78s and 45s over the years, the "album" is really just "A Side/B Side" because I've never come up with a better way to organize it. Making it even worse, some of the early 78s are single-sided with only one song, so the "album" title is just a repeat of that single song title.

You've got almost 2x as many artists than albums... That's gotta be a lot of compilations. I'll bet I don't have a dozen compilations in my whole collection.

Yeah, I started with a lot of CD compilations and have digitized some vinyl ones. I'm getting near the end of doing the entire run of Warner Bros. Loss Leaders. Depending on how you want to count it, that's 35 or 36 albums, most doubles (one a triple!), generally with only one song form each artist.

Yes you have very much nailed it. Play this.... I think this version is better... the guy who produced this also produced this... then there is the whole stereo vs surround thing.. that chorus remind me of this... they all get played at my whim.

There's also "Which mastering is better?"

I use Kodi everywhere in the house. The file storage is set up with stereo files in one directory and MC files in another. I select both directories as music sources for my main system that can play MC. All other systems in the house are stereo and only the stereo directory is set as a source for those systems. When I tag the albums I set the album titles to read like TITLE (2.0) and TITLE (5.1). Then in the surround system both albums show up in the library right next to each other. just choose which version to listen to. Kodi and the Pre Pro just adjust the channels on the fly.

Very nice! It wouldn't surprise me if there's a lot of good stuff under Kodi's hood that I don't know about because I got stuck on LMS. Though one big thing LMS has that I don't believe Kodi can do is multi-room sync. Right now I'm typing this in the office listening on one system. As soon as I'm done, I'll go downstairs through the living room where exactly the same source will be playing through different hardware and take my lunch dishes into the kitchen where a third system will be in the same sync group.

Then I'll complain about my electric bill.

 

[Ranasakawa]

I'm currently in Guangzhou China, apparently the home of Oppo. I have seen a few Oppo players in the audio shops here. Sadly surround sound is not the most popular thing in China.
The audio gear however is amazing!
I impressed a few sales guys with my Allman Brothers tracks connected to their amplifier from my FLAC files coming from my phone.
Oppo is still for sale here.

 

[JediJoker]

I'm currently in Guangzhou China, apparently the home of Oppo.

The "parent" company, yes, but the disc player operation is/was a separate entity based in Mountain View and then Menlo Park, California.

 

[4-earredwonder]

From High Def Digest: https://hdgear.highdefdigest.com/62263/panasonicdpub8204kultrahdblurayplayer.html

But the question remains: Is it a Universal Player?

 

[humprof]

Exactly what the first commenter (bottom of the page) wants to know. How could you write such a long, detailed review of something you're touting as "the next Oppo" and not address that issue? (Unless of course you were unaware of the fact that there's an entire subculture of audiophiles who purchased Oppos primarily for their ability to play all forms of multi-channel media?)

Panasonic North America's consumer products website has bupkis about this model. But HDGuru says:

The main advantage the Oppo UDP-203 and various Sony Ultra HD Blu-ray players have over the Panasonic DP-UB820 is in the ability to play 5.1 multi-channel DVD-Audio and SACD discs. While it is true that these are now dead formats, they still exist in the libraries of millions of audiophiles around the world, and with the departure of Oppo from the universal player market, the lifespan of these discs is more limited than ever. Although the UB820 won’t play either format, it does a fantastic job with the small sampling of available multichannel Pure Audio Blu-ray music material. There is no comparison between a proper 5.1 channel mix and any of the faux surround formats available through today’s AVRs and processors.

And later:

We...think Panasonic is missing an opportunity to take over Oppo’s niche role by not making its disc players fully “universal” models, with support for multi-channel DVD-Audio and SACD discs. After all, Panasonic was one of the leading developers and proponents of the DVD-A ecosystem, and in this reviewer’s opinion, DVD-Audio and SACDs are some of the best ways to listen to hi-res audio. Pure Audio Blu-ray discs will work, but sadly this format never generated the necessary momentum to build up a decent library of discs.

 

[Clint Eastwood]

The "parent" company, yes, but the disc player operation is/was a separate entity based in Mountain View and then Menlo Park, California.

Yes...and the California based arm of the company was responsible for the all important design contributions...the key to their success..

 

[Jeffrey Michael]

And don’t forget about the group of OPPO beta testers that, overwhelmingly suggested, several certain key features be added too, whenever possible. Yes, our opinion was asked in the early stages of the design process.

 

[4-earredwonder]

FYI, the earliest Panasonic DVD~A players SUCKED! A lot of the HiFi rags used them to demo those 00 DVD~A discs which helped sink that format. Had they utilized the Meridian 800 which was available at the time, I guarantee you the mags would've taken notice and helped foster the format.

 

[hafquark]

Don't know if someone has already posted the news here, but this quote from the OPPO site:

"Thank you all for your support. Due to increasingly limited quantities and overwhelming demand, we are no longer accepting email sign-ups for the UDP-205 Interest List. We are still on track to receive our next shipments in late August and mid-September, and we will begin to notify customers on the Interest List as soon as we have the players in stock."

 

[4-earredwonder]

Don't know if someone has already posted the news here, but this quote from the OPPO site:

"Thank you all for your support. Due to increasingly limited quantities and overwhelming demand, we are no longer accepting email sign-ups for the UDP-205 Interest List. We are still on track to receive our next shipments in late August and mid-September, and we will begin to notify customers on the Interest List as soon as we have the players in stock."

SADLY, the END OF AN ERA.....and whether you spell it backwards or forwards .... it'll always be an OPPO!